


with these things there's no telling (we just have to wait and see)

by deerie



Series: Melissa and Derek are Bros [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Families of Choice, Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene, References to Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-11
Updated: 2013-06-11
Packaged: 2017-12-14 16:12:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/838826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deerie/pseuds/deerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a scene that didn't make it into <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/824253">glad i didn't die before i met you</a>, set sometime between Stiles going to Derek's loft and Melissa's blind date.</p><p>  <i>“I’m about to lay down some hard truths, Derek.” She moves her hand from his leg and gestures to the tea. “Drink.”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	with these things there's no telling (we just have to wait and see)

Derek curls up on the couch in Melissa’s living room. He feels terrible. 

Melissa bustles in just long enough to put the back of her hand on his forehead and she tuts under her breath.

“I’m not sick,” Derek says. He feels the need to clarify. He’s told her that werewolves don’t get sick, but he gets the feeling sometimes that she actively ignores half the things he says.

Melissa gives him a glare that is all mom right before she disappears into the kitchen. “So you’ve said. That doesn’t mean you’re not heartsick.”

He shoots a half-hearted glare in the direction of the kitchen and then pulls one of the throw pillows on the couch under his head and ignores her back. He is not _heartsick_.

Derek hears the ding of the microwave and when Melissa comes back in the living room, she’s carrying two mugs of tea. She sets one on the coffee table in front of Derek’s face and pushes his legs out of the way so she can sit at the end of the couch. 

“I’m not drinking your microwave tea,” he tells her, childishly. 

“I don’t care whether you drink it or not,” Melissa says. “Tea is for people who are upset. You are upset. I’ve given you tea. My duty is done.”

“Why are _you_ drinking tea?”

“Because I have a feeling the conversation we’re about to have is going to make me upset.”

Derek tenses, but before he can move Melissa’s hand comes down on his knee. “You’re really going to regret it if you leave now.”

Derek heaves a big sigh. He shifts up a little bit so that he’s actually sitting up next to her, but other than that he stays where he is. “What?”

“I’m about to lay down some hard truths, Derek.” She moves her hand from his leg and gestures to the tea. “Drink.”

He leans forward just far enough to retrieve the mug and tuck it against his chest. Melissa reaches for his free hand and lays hers on top, tucks her fingers against his palm. She stares into her mug for a moment before she starts speaking. 

“I met Scott’s dad when I was sixteen. George was a grade above me. We were high school sweethearts, I guess you could say.” Her grip on his hand tightens briefly. “We stayed together through graduation and talked about getting married. Things were really great for a while. And then I got pregnant with Scott and everything changed.”

Derek takes a sip of his tea and refuses to acknowledge Melissa’s smug smirk. She leans forward to put her mug down and wraps her newly freed hand around Derek’s. Her thumb brushes across his knuckles, back and forth, and he realizes the motion is more for her comfort than it is for his. 

“I was nineteen when Scott was born. George’s mother wouldn’t stop harping on the idea of her boy living in sin, so we got married a couple months after that. George was a completely different person after I married him. I think he was jealous of Scott. That sounds awful, a grown man jealous of a newborn, but I think he was angry because all of my attention was on Scott and not him.”

Melissa leans into Derek’s side. His cup joins hers and he shifts them so one of his arms is around her shoulders and he takes her hand in his this time. This kind of touching is not unfamiliar to him. It reminds him of his family. He hasn’t had family since Laura died, but he thinks that maybe he’s starting to gain a new one. He wonders if that’s alright.

Melissa continues, “George didn’t start getting physical until Scott was in the second grade. He was really good about avoiding my face, but I was pretty much black and blue for years. Both of our parents were pretty much against divorce and I thought it was better for Scott to have two parents, so I stayed with him.

“It was actually Stiles’ mom who pushed me to leave him. Scott and Stiles became friends in the sixth grade, you know, and Ava dropped Scott off after school one day but when she walked him up to the front door, she heard George screaming at me. She called John and he came and hauled George off to jail. Ava took me to the hospital and the next day I filed for divorce.”

Derek can see the tear tracks making their way down Melissa’s face. She lets out a tiny hitching sob before she reels it back in. She pulls one hand away to wipe across her eyes and she laughs in embarrassment. “Sorry, I just - I was in love with the idea of George for so long. It’s like it’s my fault he hurt my family.”

The words are out of his mouth before he realizes what he’s said. “But it wasn’t your fault.”

He realizes half a beat later what she’s trying to do and his brow furrows. 

“Yeah, I know that now. I had a very good friend who made sure I knew it wasn’t my fault. There are bad people out there who do terrible things, but those things aren’t our fault.”

“No,” Derek starts, seeing that she’s trying to compare what happened to her to the stupid mistake he made in thinking he was in love with a hunter who would later burn his family to the ground. “These aren’t even the same things -”

“Derek, stop. Listen to me. Our wounds are different, but that doesn’t mean it makes either of our experiences less valid.” Melissa pulls Derek into a hug he resists at first. “But if mine wasn’t my fault, then yours wasn’t your fault. If George is a predator, then Kate Argent definitely was.”

Derek is a rigid line against her, but it doesn’t deter her. “You need to be open to the idea that there’s someone out there who loves you and I hope you don’t end up pushing them away when the time comes, honey. You deserve that.”

Derek finally gives into the hug. His hands land somewhere around her shoulder blades and his face finds her shoulder and it’s eerily reminiscent of how his own mother comforted him as a child. Melissa’s arms are wrapped around his neck and she’s still crying, softly, and his own eyes feel wet. 

Eventually she pulls back far enough to say, “Stay in the guest room tonight. I don’t think you should be alone.”

It’s a testament to the night that Derek doesn’t even argue.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. (I actually ended up posting this _way too soon_ so I'm giving you the notes now.)  
>  2\. Again, thanks to my betas, [honeybearbee](http://honeybearbee.tumblr.com) and [truthtruthlie](http://truthtruthlie.tumblr.com), who talked me down from the edge with this fic - whether they realized it or not.  
> 3\. I was worried it was too much dialogue, but I think in the context of the story it works.  
> 4\. This is basically the scene that made it so important to have Melissa as a young mom. 
> 
> Again, find me on [tumblr](http://deerie.tumblr.com) and we'll chat. :*


End file.
